In a recent article in the Scotsman, Barbara Kidd (Head of Development & Alumni Relations, Edinburgh Napier University) and Dr Wendy Wu (Lecturer, Edinburgh Napier Business School) discussed whether impact investment offers an opportunity to ‘bounce back better’? Impact Investment may have many definitions, but they all identify a core need for investment that generates social and environmental impact as well as financial returns. They assert that business should be for purpose, rather than purely for profit and note how Impact Investment is no ‘nice-to-have’ extension of mainstream investment.
Impact investment is now a movement whose time has come, as Andre Hoffmann acknowledged when speaking at this year’s World Economic Forum at Davos: “In a business context, balance sheets must account for the social, human and natural capital, alongside cash.” Indeed, growing evidence suggests that once they get the focus on their purpose right, financial rewards accelerate for many companies.
In 2012 Edinburgh Napier Business School launched a Symposium as a natural extension of a programme of research on Scotland’s institutional impact investors. In April 2020, chaired by Bob Keiller CBE, ex Chair of Scottish Enterprise, 60+ leading philanthropists, investors, social entrepreneurs, academics and other change-makers joined the Impact Investment Symposium online. After finding value in the discussions, they continued in the form of monthly meetings. The Symposium aims to be more than a safe space for debate, it looks to close gaps and break down barriers to success for social enterprises. Five action groups are exploring solutions to:-
- target help for social enterprises affected by Covid-19
- evolve effective funding model
- scale sustainably
- improve cross-sector collaboration and innovation
- share learning
NCM client Social Investment Scotland has been involved from the outset. In its 20-year history, SIS has invested almost £100m in more than 450 organisations. In its last full financial year, SIS also launched its own investment fund – SIS Ventures – initially investing in five mission-driven businesses. But as SIS highlights in its most recent annual report – ‘Building an Impact Economy’ – the pandemic has been a challenging time for social enterprises with loans and support affected.
The Symposium has cascaded techniques that help social enterprises address specific operational challenges. Edinburgh Napier Business School has also helped social enterprises align their objectives with one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. An action group has now submitted a funding proposal to accelerate the development of social impact policy to maximise forestry-related income in Scotland, using a method to aggregate community land in both urban and rural locations. Another group is exploring the particular needs and aspirations of young people.
NCM is delighted to be very active in the social impact space acting for amongst others Big Issue Invest; Social Investment Scotland; Social Finance; Bristol City Fund. Many of our funds have a core social impact agenda with a number more now having it as part of their overall strategy.
Source | The Scotsman